Taiwan’s first conscripts since one-year compulsory military service was reinstated have begun their final evaluations to gauge their competency at the end of their eight weeks of orientation, the army said.
About 200 of the 655 conscripts in the army’s 2,226th conscription cohort on Monday completed their marksmanship evaluation with a pass rate of 95 percent, the 302nd Infantry Brigade was quoted as saying by the state-run Military News Agency.
The brigade, one of the two units stationed at the army’s boot camp in Taichung’s Chenggong Ling (成功嶺) military training camp, said that conscripts who successfully completed the evaluation with a score equal to or higher than the standard would qualify for a recurring NT$10,000 monthly bonus.
Photo courtesy of the Military News Agency
The five-day evaluation, which is being conducted this week, consists of a marksmanship test, a fitness test and three days of continuous combat drills, it said.
Conscripts who fail would take the test again next week, and those who fail again would receive remedial training, the brigade said.
Marksmanship accounts for 20 percent of a draftee’s grade, more than other evaluation criteria, it said.
The 90-second marksmanship test includes shooting at a target 175m away in an unsupported prone position with a T65K2 service rifle and 18 rounds of ammunition, the brigade said.
Participants need to reload three magazines and handle any malfunction that might occur, it said, adding that the test is structured to examine the draftee’s proficiency, accuracy and performance under pressure.
Taiwan last year restored one-year compulsory military service by presidential decree, requiring men aged 18 to 36 who are not students to serve after receiving eight weeks of training.
The policy change, which came amid increased hostility from Beijing, marked a shift from decades of planning to transform the military into an all-volunteer force.
In other news, Minister of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) yesterday told lawmakers that president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) plan to build seven submarines all at once is fiscally viable.
Construction of the nation’s first domestically made submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal,” was completed last year.
Chu made the comment after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) asked about the plan during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan.
Lai’s proposal would be a departure from President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) plan to build subs in batches of two to three units, which presumably was made to match Taiwan’s industrial and fiscal capabilities, Wang said.
The Hai Kun has not yet been put into operation, she said, adding that allowing more time to check for issues and collect funds would be a more prudent course of action.
Chu said there is “little difference” between building the submarines in one production run or several, and that Lai’s proposal would result in “only a slight increase” to the nation’s fiscal burden.
The changes in the timetable for submarine production would likely require the legislature to pass a special appropriations bill, he said.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-yu
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